


Nights Like This

by Losing_Control



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-05-03 02:52:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5273768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Losing_Control/pseuds/Losing_Control
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a cruel world out in the wasteland, but Nora knows she can't rewind time - she knows that everything before her own eyes is exactly how it should be, a chain reaction of catalytic events. She takes the moment to appreciate Commonwealth's strange beauty, and perhaps a special companion will join her for the ride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nights Like This

**Author's Note:**

> "The darkest night never felt so bright with you by my side."
> 
> Outer Space / Carry On - 5 Seconds of Summer

The wasteland had never looked as pretty than at night. It was ironic, a thought so absurd that it might as well be considered a complete contradictory, but it was the truth. This radiated and deprived land, devoid of many aesthetics or collective bustle, gleamed with an odd tint when the sun fell below the horizon.

Every night, exactly a few minutes before midnight, the black sky was the brightest. Millions of stars as bright as the very lights of Diamond City, all clustered together, would twinkle and smile down at the unforgiving wasteland. The moon would almost always be covered by a dense fog or cloud; but sometimes it stands out, either full to the brim or as a fingernail.

Nora hated the wasteland. She may have found hope within the settlers, the friendlies who intend to rebuild this broken world, as well as opportunities and solutions that shimmer with adventurous treachery. However, she couldn't bring herself to like any part of post-apocalyptic Commonwealth.

It was once her home: before the war, before the bombs, and definitely before she lost the only family that she will ever have. Memories of the past flooded into her mind with simple glances and tours through the devastated structures. Here, Nate took her out on a rendezvous just after their marriage and there, Shaun’s first stroll in the park on a lovely Sunday morning. It’s been exactly one year since leaving Vault 111, and Nora is still shaken at the thought of witnessing Nate murdered, Shaun taken… and yet the clues of Shaun’s kidnapping has not gotten her anywhere.

The digital clock on her Pip-Boy glowed 11: 48 and she pressed a thumb to the screen, smearing away a light dusting of dirt, and trailed it over to the rusty blood-stained metal. Sanctuary Hills is awfully quiet at this hour, and the sky is calm, showing little stars and a lonely full moon over the crumbling neighborhood.

The small bunch of settlers living here have gone to bed for the night; one or two remained awake, tinkering with a workbench or sipping a chipped bottle of alcohol to numb away whatever may be troubling them. A gust of wind brushed forward, encircling Nora’s dark-haired head, and sweeping over dead leaves and littering. The roof of her old house, which she currently sat upon, was rotting but sturdy enough to support a few bodies. She laid down carefully on her back and crossed her arms behind her head. The roof creaked under her weight, and she cringed slightly.

“Blue?” Nora’s muscles bunched hotly as she jerked up, only really surprised by the sudden voice. It wasn’t an intimidating sound; instead it was subtle, sweet, and familiar. Her gray eyes narrowed at Piper, standing merely feet away with her paling red coat flapping in the breeze.

“Oh,” Nora let out, coughing into her gloved hand. “Hey Piper, didn’t see you there.”

She hummed, a soft rumble within her throat, and plopped down beside Nora. “So, what are you doing up here all by yourself? Unless you want some alone time, then I can leave-"

“No,” Nora said abruptly, grabbing Piper’s wrist as if she was going to move away. The motive never arrived, and Piper only ogled towards her; she felt the warmth in her cheeks, scarlet against her tan skin, and retracted her arm. “Uh, um, you don’t have to leave. I just… like sitting up here, that’s all.”

“I’ve seen you come up here often,” Piper said. “I never thought twice about joining you, though.”

“Glad you did,” she replied, glancing at the journalist with a quick upturn of her mouth. Her gaze returned to the open scenery before them, to the darkened sky and the moon’s lumpy face. There was the sharp click of a bottle opening and Nora looked over as a Nuka-Cola was offered to her; it was a glowing turquoise, a beacon in the dark – Quantum.

“You want one?”

“Whoa, is that Quantum?” Nora asked after gratefully taking the bottle, fingers curling around the lukewarm glass. “This stuff is rare, at least in my perspective.”

“Eh, not really. I found two bottles while scavenging around this place. Lucky me.” Nora nodded as she downed the magical beverage, carelessly flinging aside the thought that it was too warm to actually enjoy properly, plus the fact that its carbonated bubbles have fizzled out into a flat mess. Her sore limbs, from bruises to punctuated wounds scabbed over, began to rejuvenate as the liquid – sweet with an artificial lime-cherry flavoring – washed into her innards.

Of course, the presence of radiation was inevitable. Though a small amount, the odd and somewhat painful sensation bubbled within her stomach as if a swarm of angry wasps were trapped inside. She lurched forward slightly, holding in her belly with a wobbly hand. The sensation of vomiting dimmed down after a moment, but it remained, tempting and maddening. Piper noticed this, and she touched a fleeting hand to Nora’s arm.

“You okay, Blue?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she countered rather sarcastically than normally. She didn’t mean it. Piper didn’t seem to recognize her tone anyway; she was too busy worrying over Nora, light brown eyes searching her companion’s face with a meticulous aim.

“Whatever you say,” Piper sipped her own bottle, scrunching her nose, and then swallowing shallowly.

“By the way,” Nora began. “As much as I love your nickname – Blue – for me, have you ever wondered what my _real_ name might be?”

Piper thought for a second, tapping a finger against her propped knee. “You know what… I have not. Wow, I’m so sorry, Blu – I mean, what’s your name?” Her response ended with a lighthearted yet nervous chuckle, and Nora grinned at her flustered mood.

“Nora. Nora Mendes. But I don’t think you care about my last name.”

“Oh, my goodness, that’s a cool name,” Piper remarked. “Seriously, I like your last name. Why’d you think I wouldn’t care?”

Nora shrugged, resorting back to her Quantum, which still tasted of sweet sadness. “Thanks for the drink.”

Piper smiled, her eyes flashing under the dull moonlight and streetlamps, and the strands of her hair flowing in the wind, as free as the leaves spinning around. Nora felt herself blush again; she hoped that, when she lowered her face to the ground, the dark would conceal her features. Her mouth went parched, pulse quickening within her veins.

_This was probably a great moment to shine,_ she mused, _or perhaps a great moment for humiliation._

She was about to open her mouth when the wind picked up, harder, and she shivered violently. The cold air brought fat raindrops that changed into a pelting assault, drenching the armored jacket that had just dried from an expedition through a muddied swamp earlier in the day.

“Fucking hell,” she muttered, standing up and spreading her arms wide open. “Fucking hell!”

“Relax, Nora,” Piper said, offering a placid smile despite the rain glistening on her, weighing her down by the minute.

“Sorry,” she crossed her arms and started to walk to the lower level of the roof. “This rain is just so… unexpecting, y’know? You never know if it’ll be a normal downpour or a radstorm that could kill you in a moment’s notice.”

“I know,” the journalist affirmed as she wiped dribbling raindrops from her face, flicking her hand to the ground. “I’ve lived here my whole life anyway. You wanna get out of this storm?”

Nora stared at her momentarily, ignoring the rain that soaked through her skin and into her bones, at the bitter chill that rendered her into a shivery state. All she could hear – despite the water pounding against rusting metal – was her own rancorous heartbeat.

“Nora?”

“Hm? Oh! Of course, let’s… let’s go.”

She began to regret asserting her real name to Piper. “Blue” had really developed into a term of affectionate friendship – a cute nickname. No one ever gave her nicknames, except Nate, whom called her the usual matrimonial names, like “honey” and “babe” and “dear”. Other than that, she was amazed at how quick Piper was to label her. It wasn’t like she was necessarily complaining.

They retreated into the building exactly under them, which was Nora’s old house before the war. It was the first structure to be fully rebuilt and renovated, with a patched roof and stable walls and even a few stubs of furniture and decorations; she promised herself, and the settlers, that the improvement of the house would develop more in the near future. Piper sighed as they both made it inside, the front door shutting firmly behind them. A single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling was the only source of power in the living room, casting eerie shadows along the walls that accompanied the rain and occasional thunder. The generator connected to the light gave off a low – sometimes sputtering - hum.

“You should really put more lights in this place,” Piper recommended as Nora collapsed onto the ripped couch.

A subdued groan replied back to her, “Yeah, yeah, that’s on my to-do list.”

“Is there even any heat?”

“Unless you want to start a fire, than the answer’s no,” Nora said, shrugging off the top layer of armor on her outfit; next came the jacket underneath, which she discarded onto a nearby chair. She left on a long-sleeved shirt and pants, her boots having a trace of muddy residue from outside, although she had wiped them on the carpet.

Piper remained where she was standing, rubbing at her arms as if to ward off the shivers.

Nora cursed inaudibly, shaking her head without Piper’s notice, and gestured for the reporter. “Come here.”

She looked dazed, dark contours dancing upon her face. After that she moved on over and joined Nora on the couch, hugging herself from the cold. Nora pressed to Piper, snaking an arm around her shoulders. She felt her stiffen, the breath hitching in her throat.

“Relax,” Nora used Piper’s previous word, in the same tone, from when they were outside in the rain. “This is the only form of warmth that I could think of… don’t… get offended.”

“Now why would I?” Piper turned to face Nora, smirking.

With her this close, the sole survivor could pick out every detail: her light brown eyes weren’t even brown at this point but amber and gleaming delectably in the spare luminosity, flashing every time a blaze of lightning struck down, and the freckles on her cheeks, across the bridge of her nose, were like the very stars above.

She smelled of the earth and newspaper print and faint perfume – all which were oddly comforting. Raindrops prevailed upon her skin, for the most part dried, and she didn’t even flinch as one rolled from the tip of her forehead, to the valley between her eyebrows, and further. Nora stared at it the whole time and eventually reached up, brushing it away.

“Blue…” Piper murmured, mostly out of habit and not forgetfulness, and Nora only smiled.

She leaned forward instinctively, slowly, and their lips touched. It was brief but everlasting, steady but hurried, chilling and heated at the same time and everything in between. Nora’s mind was bottled, spinning at a million miles per hour. This was just as good as the first kiss that she and Nate shared – maybe even better.

They pulled apart and Piper, as always, was a flustered mess. She covered her mouth with a hand, eyes the size of saucers. “That… that…”

“-was amazing?” Nora attempted to finish with a foolish grin.

“Well… yeah,” Piper blushed. “but it was also my first kiss.”

“Aren’t you glad it was with me then?”

Piper cuffed her arm playfully, but deep down she knew it was true. She snuggled up to Nora as the rain lightened and exhaustion crept upon them.


End file.
